Are you more comfortable in bolder or subtler eye makeup?
I’d say it’s harder for me to do subtle makeup because for me, I just want to use all the colors… so definitely bolder!
— Christine
Explore Temptalia
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Compare Any Two
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
15 Comments
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
Comments on this post are closed.
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
Subtle is my “jam”. I’d feel very uncomfortable in a rainbow or bright eye makeup look and since I wear makeup to please me, I don’t feel the need to move outside my comfort zone. I do like to add a bit of colour, usually under my lower lashes, with either a bright pencil liner or a bright teal or blue shadow pressed under the lower lashes (those brilliant teals and blues from the “old” UD were just the ticket!). UD’s Frozen North is a favourite for this, as is good old (very old) Birds & Berries from MAC.
I’m definitely more into understated makeup which I think is the norm where I live – I live in a pretty conservative place. I also feel like bolder makeup requires a more gifted hand which I lack! I like to try to new things at home and experiment with colour but when I walk out the door I don’t want to stand out.
I do both, but change my approach. With bold colours, I tend to go one and done or monochromatic, whereas with subtle, I tend to use more shadows to create depth on my hooded eyes.
Bolder, even though with age, I tone it down some.
How about subtle application of bold colors. I will use bright and generally shimmery shades on my lids (one all over and a paler one in the inner corner) but crease and brow shades will be soft and matte. My glasses mute everything so the overall look does not seem bold to me.
I like bold application of neutrals. I usually do smoked dark shadow, a cut crease, or heavy eyeliner + lashes. I like color and brights also, but they’re not as flattering on me.
Because despite being 62 y.o., I can still get away with wearing very bold, colorful eye looks, I will gravitate towards those until it begins to look awkward on me. I love color. It may be my previous art background. Or my Native American DNA. Who knows?
However, if I’m doing a red lip or something else very intense, I go for a neutral toned eye look. Even then, it’s usually rather smokey and has my usual darker crease and black winged liner!
If we are talking pure comfort, I’m definitely more comfortable with no eye makeup, so I can rub my eyes. 😅
But on makeup days, I definitely feel more comfortable with slightly bolder makeup. Due to my issue with eye shape and placement, I feel more comfortable with a little bit more makeup, I need darker eyeshadows to structure my eyes, eyeliner to add definition. I feel comfortable as myself more in a grey smoky eye than a minimal look.
But I’m also not the one to go over overboard, and also not the one to wear complex eyelooks or false eyelashes.
I always strive for subtle and then miss by a mile. If I were really committed to a subtle look, I would likely only use neutral shadows. I mean, what is the point of a bright, colored shadow applied so softly as to make it subtle? I like color and so don’t mind using brighter colors. Where I do maintain some subtlety is in my placement of the brighter shadows. I tend to limit them to my moveable lid and not above the crease, as I have seen some people do! More power to them but not for me.
Actually for me, it’s a bit of both. I am quite comfortable wearing a bolder eye look, with a subtle background and a pop of a jewel shade. I also like wearing subtle looks too with my neutral eye palettes, especially using Glam.
Subtle during the week and bold during weekends. Usually during the week I need a look which is going to stand the 10 hours work day without having to worry about it and a look that is not going to take me more than 5 minutes to create. Whereas during weekends usually I can dedÃcate time and enjoy creating a look knowing that is a 3-5 hour situation.
I’m equally comfortable with bold and subtle eye makeup.
I always use shimmery or glittery shades on the mobile lids and neutral tones from the crease, up and outwards.
I rarely do a bolder eye look if I wear a very dark or bold lipstick though.
Definitely bolder. This week I wore a makeup look that was more subtle overall and that originally didn’t have any eyeshadow, just mascara, but I couldn’t leave it shadowless! I used Kylie Trophy, the gold shadow from the Purple Palette. I also added more oomph by combining two Marc Jacobs lipglosses-Love Buzz and Cherry Moon-and using Fenty 7DayWknd highlighter.
Bolder. I love color and like to accentuate my eyes. Bold eyes feel like me.
Subtler, definitely. I stick with browns, coppers, golds, and champagnes and don’t really enjoy venturing outside of them. Metallic neutrals or soft, satiny browns that make my eyes look sunken in are what I enjoy.